shiva report

8/8/2019 Shiva Report

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Human resource practices at SMC insurance 1

SMC Insurance

Brokers Pvt. Ltd.A study on how HR practices can make an extraordinary

difference in todays workplace.

Submitted by:-

Shiva Kakkar (155)


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Acknowledgement

As a part of the PGDM curriculum at Birla Institute of Management

Technology, the preparation of this project report has been a

unique and rewarding experience. We would like to thank Birla

Institute of Management Technology and SMC Ltd. for providing us

with this wonderful opportunity.

We would also like to thank Dr. Manosi Chaudhuri for guiding us all

through the course of this project. We are grateful for her

direction and support which helped us prepare this extensive

project.

We are also grateful to our industry mentor, Mr. Navneet Kaushik,VP-HR, SMC Ltd. for helping and guiding us at every moment whilst

we carried out our research at the organization. We hope to

succeed in this endeavor and uphold the name of our institution.

(Prof. Manosi Chaudhuri)(Mr. Navneet Kaushik)


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- Associate Professor, BIMTECH -VP-HR, SMC Ltd.

Contents

s.

no.

Chapters Page no.

1 Executive Summary 4

2 Background of Study 5

3 Scope of the Study 6

4 Objective of the Study 7

5 Methodology

4.1 Primary Data Collection

4.2 Secondary Data Collection

8

6 Literature Review 9-33

7 Data Collection and Analysis 34-42

8 Conclusion 43

9 Recommendations and future

challenges

44

References

Appendix


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Executive Summary

20 years ago, the greatest organizations were the ones who had the most number of

arms and legs working for them. But, as the tidal wave of information took over, brawn

started getting being substituted by brain. Today, it is the people of the organization that

determine its success. Firms like Google, Apple, Tata, etc. have created a niche for

themselves in the world, and are in the true sense great organizations. To be a great

organization, one needs to have great employees, and to have such great employees,

one needs some great practices to reign over them. This is where human resource

practices take the centre stage. The objective of this research is to identify the tacit

unexpressed needs of the employees working at SMC and how the human resource

practices at the company can help satisfy these wants. Human needs and wants are themain proponents of employee motivation. It is truer in a demanding sector like Insurance

where every man gained or lost can be detrimental to the companys profit. Therefore, it

is necessary to judge the employee expectations and try to meet them to the best

possible extent. There are six best practice areas that we identified:

1. Human resource Planning: Results of the future depend on the decisions of thepresent. HRP demands the socio - technical elements to be in place for the

organization to diagnose any contingency effectively, be it recruiting or succession

planning.

2. Performance Appraisal: Every organization loves its employees but fails to express

the same. Unlike, the common perception about PA being the nemesis of many a

careers, its necessary that employees also know about its positive aspects.

3. Training and Development: Most organizations commit the cardinal sin of considering training as an expense and try to curtail it. It is necessary to know the

need or lack of training at all levels of management for effective organizational

performance.

4. Compensation and Benefits: As companies get competitive, compensation andbenefits is the hammer they use to break each other. Its essential that firms

remain competitive, and at times, set new standards in the industry.

5. Knowledge Management: Knowledge is the scalpel that decides the fate of todays

business battles. Its effective management can make or break an organization.


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enhance the financial performance of an organization manifold. In an effort

to enhance their competitiveness, some firms have instituted high

performance work practices. Firms like Google, Apple, Marriot Hotels, Tata

Group have created a niche for themselves through their humane HRpractices. It is through these practices that they have become the apple of

the eye of many prospective employees. Googles attrition rates have

rarely went beyond 2%. Thus, good HR is not a luxury, but a necessity for

organizations today.

Scope of the study

India has about 300 million people who can afford to buy life, health, and

pension plan products. Out of this, only 20% have insurance and that too

covers only 25% of their needs and financial capacity. The remaining 80%

have no insurance cover. The life insurance market of India, therefore, has

tremendous growth potential. More and more foreign companies are

setting shop in India. This directly indicates the rising job opportunities inthis sector. Large scale manpower needs possess intricate problems. As

employees get more and more aware, the levels of BATNA they possess on

the negotiating table increases. Coupled with newer and better

government regulations, rising competition and a volatile target driven

environment the challenges and opportunities are like never before. Thus,

insurance brokerages have numerous pressing issues on hand. High

Attrition rates, employee dissatisfaction, motivation, training expenses, etc

are some of the issues constantly perplexing the Insurance brokerage

companies. A careful and critical analysis of these problems would

tremendously benefit the firm, as well as generate valuable information

that can be applied not only to the insurance sector, but to other high-

attrition sectors like BPOs as well, as they tend to be a cross between IT


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and Finance sectors. The scope of this study is limited to pointing out the

golden practices needed to meet the challenges of this industry and give

suggestions over the lacunas, if any. This involves a substantial amount of

research to be conducted on the relationship between productivity and

high performance work practices, such as the use of valid staffing

procedures, organizational cultures that emphasize team orientation and

respect for people, employee involvement in decision making,

compensation linked to firm or worker performance, and training. No

organization in the world is free of errors. Our research can be taken as a

cue to undertake an organizational restructuring activity, simplify

processes. An in depth analysis of problems like high attrition and lack of employee motivation can be undertaken in the future. We hope that this

research would be a starting step for any organization that wants to make

a move towards the best employer listing in this country.

Objectives of the study

The primary objective is to study the practices being followed by SMC Ltdand their success or failure with the employees. To simplify the study, we

have divided the entire research into five specific study areas. We have

asked questions in our survey based on these five areas, as follows:

1. Human Resource Planning : HRP is today, a form of business

competition. It demands serious attention from management because

any business strategy will falter without the talent to execute it.

Insurance companies are often seen to indulge in massive hiring and

layoff practices owing to large scale attrition. Is bulk hiring the solutionto the attrition problem or the problem itself?

2. Performance Appraisal : Considered as the incarnation of Satan by

employees, performance appraisal is the quality check of whats going


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o Structured questionnaire with open ended and close ended

question.

o Random sampling

o Interviews with HR executives and other staff members

4.2 Secondary data collection:

Journals

Newspapers

Internet

Books

Company Documents

We have taken an exploratory study of SMC Ltd. Our motive is to establish

cause and affect relationships by studying the practices and policies of thecompany. The sample responses were collected from the HR executives

present in SMC Ltd. at the Pratapnagar branch. The sample selection was

random to reduce the bias in responses. In order to increase the validity

and reliability of the study, we opted to use a structured questionnaire to

collect the data.

Secondary data collection is done through various sources to support the

empirical study, which we have conducted. We have mentioned some of

the secondary data collection source like news paper, journals, company

policy documents, etc.


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Literature review

The HRM 1 function today is concerned with much more than simple filing,

record keeping and compensation disbursement. When HRM is integrated

within the organization, HRM plays a major role in clarifying the firms

human resource problems and develop solutions towards it. It is oriented

toward action, the individual, interdependence and the future. It is hard

to assume that an organization would continue to survive in the lack of

effective HRM strategies. In spite of the appealing notion of strategic HRM,

organizations find it extremely difficult to adopt new HR practices. Most

often, they are concerned with short term gains and focus only on current

performance, rather than having a comprehensive view of the future.

Hence, it can be said that HRM activities play a major role in ensuring the

prosperity and effectiveness of an organization. Effectiveness and

Ineffectiveness of an organization can be studied in terms of certain

criterias or components like performance, legal compliance, employee

satisfaction, absenteeism, turnover and attrition, training effectiveness,

return of investment, grievance rates among others. All these are

constituents of the practices followed in an organization.

There are five practices of HR at SMC Ltd. which form the focus of this

research. These five areas are Performance Appraisal, Human Resource

Planning, Benefits and Facilities, Training and Development, Organizational

learning and Knowledge Management. Dave Ulrich in his invaluable book

The HR Value Proposition cites four processes key to an organizations

success 2 namely, Flow of people i.e. how people move in, through, up and

out of the organization, Flow of performance management i.e. the strandsthat link people to their work the standards and measures, financial and

nonfinancial rewards, Flow of information i.e. the assimilation and

dissemination of information throughout the organization that ensures that

people know what is happening in the organization and why, and can take

the necessary steps to create value, and lastly, Flow of work i.e. who does


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the work and how is it done. Proper attention to work flow provides the

governance processes accountability and a physical setting that ensures

quality results. These practices are necessary to achieve a sustained

competitive advantage through people. In fact, a growing number of experts now argue that the key to a firms success is based on establishing

a set of core competencies. To achieve a competitive advantage through

the use of human resources the organization should meet the following

criteria 3 :

1. The resources must be of value : People are a source of competitive

advantage when they improve the efficiency or effectiveness of the

company. Value is increased when employees find ways to decrease

costs, provide something unique to customers, or some combination of

two. Empowerment programs, total-quality initiatives, and continuous

improvement efforts are intentionally designed to increase the value

that employees represent on the bottom line.

2. The resources must be rare : People are a source of competitive

advantage when their skills, knowledge, and abilities are not equally

available to competitors. Companies like Microsoft, Infosys, Dawnay Day

invest a great deal to hire and train the best and brightest employees in

order to gain advantage over their competitors.

3. The resources must be difficult to imitate : People are a source of

competitive advantage when employee capabilities and contributions

cannot be copied by others. Google, Southwest airlines, etc. are known

for their unique cultures that get the most from their employees and aredifficult, if not impossible, to imitate.

4. The resources must be organized : People are a source of competitive

advantage when their talents can be combined and deployed to work on


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Source: Grote Consulting Corporation

2. Human Resource Planning : The rapidly changing and ever evolving

world has put a tremendous strain on the availability of human

resources. Almost every organization suffers from a perpetual

drought of quality manpower. The severe supply and demand gap

makes it imperative for organizations to plan their course of action

well in advance. This means that traditional time bound HR practicesof hiring, selections and promotions need to be quashed and

replaced with a more robust and dynamic system. HRP 8 (Human

resource planning) is nothing but an analysis of the organizations

HRM needs in a dynamic environment and develop a course of

activities that can enable the organization to adapt to change.


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The Human Resource Planning Process 9 typically consists of 4 steps,

namely:1. Situational Analysis or Environmental Scanning: The various

social, political, economical and technical changes in thesurrounding environment affect the flow of human resources in an

organization. As an example, the spurt of the Information

Technology sector in India led to an increase in technical

institutes. In order to meet the demand, organizations like Infosys

tied up with educational institutions to provide recruitment and

training facilities. Without an effective HR plan to support the

recruitment and selection functions, Infosys or for that matter, any

other organization cannot hope to remain competitive in themarket.

2. Demand Forecasting for Human Resources: The next step in the

planning process is that of demand forecasting. Not only is it

necessary to estimate how many employees would be needed but

also what kind of employees. There are a number of ways of

demand forecasting. Of all the tools, the human judgment still

plays a crucial role in these decisions. Many managers still rely ontheir gut feeling to predict the need of manpower in their

organizations. Nevertheless, organizations are moving towards

removing the uncertainty in HR prognostics. Companies around

the world are increasingly adopting newer techniques like Expert

Estimates (Delphi Technique or Nominal Group Technique), Trend

Projections, etc. More sophisticated techniques include Modeling

and Multiple Predictive Techniques like Markov Chain Analysis.

3. Analyzing the current supply of Employees: External recruitment,

selection and training cost organizations a lot of time and money.

Add to this the cost of retaining these new yet highly skilled

employees, the figure becomes astronomical. To maximize the

use of resources in an organization the organization needs to keep


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a tap on its current resource availability. In many situations,

internal hiring and training can suffice or at least cut down the

need for external hiring. Companies are increasingly adopting

policies like moonlighting to cater to their human resource needs.A breakthrough and effective way to estimate the current supply

of manpower is Skills Inventory 10 . As the name suggests, a skills

inventory is a record of what kind of skills, abilities, experiences

and training the employees currently possess. By keeping track of

it an organization can quickly determine the availability of a

particular skill when needed. The typical contents of a skill

inventory are the name, skill, experience and in some cases, the

skill gap of employees. Skill gap knowledge is another benefit of having a skill inventory. It can help organizations in improving the

quality of training and development programs for its employees.

An employee may be interviewed or simply be given the access to

the companys HRIS system to record his skills. Today, Skill

inventories largely differ in their sophistication. An inventory may

be as simple as an index file in a file drawer to a massive Human

resource Information System (HRIS) database. Microsofts skill

inventory assessment software is shown in Fig. 1-211

below.

Fig. 1-2: Microsoft Skill Inventory Assessment System 10

4. Action Decisions in Human Resource Planning : Finally, the last

step of the HRP process is the recommended or future course of


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action. The previous two steps analyzed the supply and demand

and determine what action should be taken. There are two types

of scenarios a firm can face at this stage:

1. Shortage of employees: If the supply of employees is less than thedemand, the organization can go for counter measures like

recruitment, moonlighting, etc. A new trend being seen in

organizations today, is the rehiring of retired employees or

employees who were previously laid off. The advantage of these

employees is that they require less training than fresh ones and

know the organizations culture inside out. There has also been a

tremendous rise in the number of part-time (or contingent workers)

in firms. Contingent workers are a good alternative especially whenthe organization is facing temporary shortages. Contingent workers

may be hired directly or through subcontractors. SMC utilizes the

services of ADECCO consultancy services and SHOMUK Consultancy

for its manpower management in west and east India, respectively.

2. Employee Surplus: An effective HRP process not only helps

in dealing with shortage of employees but also in trimming down

the organization. General Motors12

became a loss making enterprisebecause of its excessive human resource costs. By the time it

decided to tone down its structure, the unions jumped into play and

the result was utter chaos and irrecoverable loss. It has been

viewed that decisions in employee surplus conditions are more

difficult to make than in shortage because it involves activities like

layoffs, demotions, retrenchment, terminations, attrition, etc. The

employee who is a surplus is seldom responsible for his being so.

Also, in countries like India, layoffs and retrenchment attract a hugepolitical and union intervention, as is evident from the recent crisis

at Jet Airways. The most preferable method to deal with this

situation is attrition. Most organizations avoid layoffs and

retrenchment, and depend on attrition i.e. by simply not replacing

the people who are leaving the organization. This has a direct

impact on the career planning of employees. Firms need to enrich


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jobs of junior employees so that they can take on the

responsibilities of their superiors. Organizations use other tools like

voluntary retirement services to reduce the organizational fat. The

government of India still uses its VRS services as the most effectiveway of laying off employees. Companies also try to go in for work

creation in such cases. A brilliant example of Job or Work Creation

has been the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

Guarantee Scheme or (MGNREGA). Another growing trend is that of

outplacements. Technically, outplacement is defined as the process

of facilitating a terminated employee's search for a new job by

provision of professional services, such as counseling, paid for by

the former employer. A shining example of successful application of VRS and outplacement services is that of Tata Steel 13 . Between the

years 1991 to 2001 Tata steel removed more than 38000

employees from its payroll in order to flatten its organizational

structure. A majority of its employees were outplaced in its own

ancillary units surrounding the Tata Steel plant at Jamshedpur. The

employees who were given VRS whose conditions were focused

more on treating it as a dignified farewell rather than as cost

cutting initiative.

HRP is a small word with big implications. An efficient plan depends

upon the optimal use of the companys HRIS and EIS (Executive

Information system.) Activities like job analysis, etc. are the stepping

stones of HRP process. Job Analysis is required to set an alignment

between the job and the type of person or skills requirement for

effective execution of the job. A written explanation of the knowledge,

skills, abilities, traits and other characteristics (KSAOs) are necessaryfor effective performance of the job.

Another important aspect of HR Planning is Succession Planning 14 .

Succession Planning is defined as a means of identifying critical

management positions, starting at the levels of project manager and

supervisor and extending up to the highest position in the organization.


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Succession planning also describes management positions to provide

maximum flexibility in lateral management moves and to ensure that as

individuals achieve greater seniority, their management skills broaden

and become more generalized in relation to total organizationalobjectives rather than purely departmental objectives. Succession

planning is today considered an internal part of the career planning of

employees and is necessary for continuous productivity of the

organization.

3. Training and Development: Recruitment, Training and Development

today form an important part of the activities and organizationperforms. As the knowledge based industries progress, the need for

training and development has increased than ever before. The

traditional mindset that Training and Development does not help in

creating value is now changing. Information Technology has made it

imperative that the company with the best candidates remains the

leader. Training 15 is nothing but a planned effort by a company to

facilitate employees learning of job related competencies. These

competencies include knowledge, skills and behaviors necessary forsuccessful completion of job tasks. Training and Development incurs

a huge cost for an organization. It is estimated that American

organizations spend $60 billion on training annually. India is having

at least 4000 industrial training institutions alone and spends 75 to

100 million dollars a year on them. If we add the compensation or

wages for the participants involved in the training, the whole cost of

training amounts to a staggering 100 200 million dollars. Not only is

training provided in the industrial sector but also the rural sector. Thegovernment of India organizes training for nearly a million village

leaders every year. Experts estimate that the total expenditure on all

types of training provided in India comes around 6 billion dollars per

year 16 . The problem begins when the results of the training are not

commensurate with the expenditure. A typical training process has 4

steps as shown below:


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Fig 1-3: The Systems Model of Training 17

1. Needs Assessment: The first step in a training program is the analysis

for the need of the training. There could be political, social, economic or

technical decisions that influence the training needs in an organization.

To diagnose these, an organizational analysis needs to be conducted.

For eg: Technological changes in the banking sector made training a

necessity in public banks like SBI, etc. Other training issues aretriggered by strategic initiatives of an organization. Mergers and

acquisitions often require employees to take on new roles and

responsibilities. Training is also needed to make employees comfortable

and adaptable to the new culture. Emphases on organizational

restructuring, globalization, downsizing, empowerment, etc are forces

that influence the T&D needs. One of the biggest factors impacting

training is the changing demographics of the workforce. India is fast

approaching its demographic dividend phase. By 2025, it is estimatedthat 68% of Indias population would be less than 35 years old. To

exploit this humongous Human Resource effective training and

development programs are required. On the other hand, countries like

America and Europe are moving towards a demographic maturity phase.

As the population gets older, training needs to be tailored to suit the

PHASE 1

Needs Assessment:

Organizationalanalysis

Task analysis

Person analysis

PHASE 2

Design:

Instructionalobjectives

Traineereadiness

LearningPrinciples

PHASE 3

Implementat ion:

On-the-jobmethods

Off-the-jobmethods

Management

PHASE 4

Evaluation

Reactions

Learning

Behavior

Results


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capabilities of the new age group. On a micro level, organizations need

to be clear about the tasks they expect to be successfully completed

through the use of training. For this a task analysis is required. Task

analysis is the process of determining what content a training programshould have, based on the tasks and duties involved in the job. Task

analysis affects the mode of delivery of the training and help trainers

choose and design effective methods. Tasks are generally assumed to

be mechanical chores, which is not the case today. The high value tasks

today demand competencies that can be taught only through skill based

coaching. The last piece of analysis is the person analysis. Organizations

need to decide who needs the training and who does not. Performance

appraisals are a good tool to help in taking such decisions. They canexpose the deficiencies of the employees and the need for training. One

pitfall in using performance appraisals for training decisions is that

though they tell who needs the training, they do not reveal why. For a

training program to be successful that the correct deficiency is spotted.

If motivation or stress is the factor responsible then training may not be

the best option.

2. Designing the training program: The second step after assessment of

needs is to design the learning environment required for training and

enhance the learning experience. Experts believe that training issues

should focus on three related issues: Instructional objectives, trainee

readiness and motivation and lastly, the principles of learning.

Instructional objectives describe the skills and knowledge to be acquired

and the attitudes that need to be changed through training. Concurring

with this, experts designed the ISD18

i.e. Instructional System Designwhich refers to the process of developing training programs satisfying

the organizational needs. Sometimes, it is also called as the ADDIE

model standing for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and

Evaluation. Though ISD is a systematic procedure, it only alludes the

instructor what is to be done. He or she may, at will, use or exclude


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As we move from the organization to the employee level, it becomes

necessary that we respect the psychological considerations of training.

The success and failure of training are related to certain principles of

learning, hence managers and employees should understand thedifferent training methods or techniques and utilize these principles. It is

necessary that employees grasp the new materials, make sense of it in

their own lives and transfer it to the job. Ideally, a training program

should lead to personal as well as professional development. As

mentioned above, positive reinforcement 20 and reduction in penalties

are all results of studies carried out in the field of learning and

development theories.

3. Implementation of training: Implementation refers to the effective

t ransfer of training 21 to the candidates so that they can apply it to their

jobs. Factors like environment, culture, instruction material, quality of

instructors, teaching methods affect the implementation of training.

Implementation accompanies the various methods that can be used to

train employees. The method of delivery is selected based upon the

various constraints an organization faces like, management support,

technological support, peer support, etc. Also, skill training for higher

management requires radically different approach than non managerial

functions. Some of the best training methods are listed below:

On the Job Training: It is one of the most common methods for

training non -managerial employees. OJT has the advantage of

providing hands-on experience to the employees. It also aides in

fostering relationships between the management and employees.

In fact, OJT is viewed as the most effective process of facilitating

learning in the workplace 22 . The success of OJT depends on the

relationship between the superior and the sub-ordinate. If the

relationship is not a warm one the entire module would crumble.

Also, OJT requires the two parties to create a feasible and

measurable performance goal.


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Off the job training: Off the job training itself contains a variety of

training methods. Some of them being the case method, Role

playing, In-basket technique, management games and other types

of classroom training. The primary objective is to develop

analytical skills among others in the employees. Classroom based

training often utilizes historical data. This helps in sharpening the

decision making skills of the students but poses a problem in case

the data is irrelevant or obsolete. As an organization SMC uses

both the training methods (on and off the job) to train its

candidates for positions like tele-callers, sales and marketing

professionals.

Management development training: Management training is

aimed at training the middle and higher level management

employees. MD training is important because managers form the

substrate of organizational change and strategic revitalization. MD

training gives managers the skills and perspective they need to be

successful 23 . Corporate seminars, coaching, case studies, etc. aresome of the most used methods for management training.

Training is not only restricted to job related activities. In our

research (detailed later) we found that the increasing levels of

stress and lack of self management were responsible for a high

turnover ratio in the organization. Changing economic times have

us pulled in multiple directions . The pressures and demandsbetween work and personal life are blurred. As a result, the

consequences of stress in the workplace come from what is

happening to each of us both on and off the job. Tele callers, Sales

managers, HR executives found it difficult to cope with such

scenarios. It was a vicious circle as lack of self management


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dented employee motivation resulting into high turnover among

sales personnel. This increased the load on the HR function as

primarily bulk hiring practices are used. We believe that training

sessions on stress management would help the organization dealmore effectively with this menace. NASA, GE and NOKIA are some

of the companies that have widely used stress management

training to improve productivity. 24

4. Training Evaluation: Training evaluation 25 refers to the outcomes needed

to determine whether training is effective. Experts have distributed the

evaluation into four components: Reactions, Learning, Behavior and

Results. These four components later constituted a model, now known

popularly as the Kirkpatrick Model of training evaluation 26 . The

constituents of the model are briefed below:

Reactions: The first step is to measure the reactions of the

trainees. Happy trainees are more likely to focus on the concepts

and apply them to their jobs. Reactions not only record whether

the training was liked or not but goes much beyond. It gives a

chance to trainees to critique the instructors and make

suggestions about participant interactions, feedback, etc. Happy

sheets, questionnaires, interviews are good methods to record

training reactions.

Learning: It is necessary that during the course of the training, the

firm keeps a tap on the employees learning. Learning can be

measure through written test, question and answer sessions, etc.

A more practical way of judging is through the use of control

groups. In this method, one group is provided the training and

another is not, and the difference between job performances is

seen. Alternatively, a groups behavior and performance before


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the training may be noted and then compared to its performance

after completing the training.

Behavior: Training is often given to trigger a behavior and

attitudinal change. In some cases, though the reaction and

learning show high scores, the candidates may revert back to the

original behavior on the job. Thus, behavior measurement needs

to supervise the climate of training and help candidates cope up.

Results: The ultimate objective of any training is to showincreased productivity that gets reflected on the balance sheet.

Two methods are widely used Return of Investment (ROI) and

Benchmarking 27 . ROI is meant to assess the value the training has

delivered to the company. Benchmarking is a process in which the

value addition (often, in terms of management practices,

organizational wastages, etc.) is benchmarked against industry

leaders.

Fig 1-4: Diagrammatic Representation of Training Evaluation 28


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4. Compensation Management: Compensation Management 29 is

the HRM function that deals with the reward an individual

receives in exchange of rendering his services towards theorganization. It is the biggest cost of the HRM function and the

chief reason why people seek employment. Compensation also

includes the benefits and incentives employees receive. Such

benefits/incentives are called indirect financial compensation.

In the emerging competitive scenario, indirect financial

compensation form a major part of compensation

management. The objective of compensation management is

to create a system of rewards that is equitable to the employerand employee alike. There are seven criterias 30 for a

compensation policy to be called effective:

1. Adequate: Minimum governmental, union and managerial levels

should be met. These are in accordance to the laws set by the

government like the Minimum wages Act, etc.

2. Equitable: Each person should be paid fairly, in line with his or hereffort, abilities and training. Also, it should be one that is competitive

in the industry.

3. Balanced: Pay, benefits and other rewards should provide a

reasonable total reward package.

4. Cost effective: Pay should not be excessive, considering what

organizations can afford to pay.

5. Secure: Pay should be enough to provide the employee a sense of

security and aid him in fulfilling his basic needs.

6. Incentives: Pay should be able to motivate employees towards more

productive work.


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7. Acceptability: The employee should understand the pay system and

feel it is a reasonable system for the enterprise and him or herself.

Healthy compensation is necessary to keep employees motivated.

Unhealthy practices in compensation can severely dent the companys

prospects. Unsatisfactory or uncompetitive compensation is the primary

reason for high levels of attrition. Compensation is affected by the

labour market dynamics. The compensation needed for hiring

Americans is much larger than the one needed to employ Indians or the

Chinese. This is due to the large population of India and high birth rate.

Computer consultants in United States charge $100 an hour, whereas

those in India charge barely $10 for the same work 31 . The low cost of

living in developing countries makes it possible for firms to pay workers

substantially lower. A computer analyst in Unites States warns an

average $63000 a year. In India, the same worker earns less than

$6000. Thus, labour diversity makes for an astonishing difference. This

is the reason why there is a massive off shoring/outsourcing of

processes to countries like India. Organizations are trying to cut labour

costs by shifting work overseas where labour costs are significantly

less. 32 It is estimated that worldwide spending on job relocation to

foreign countries was about $5 trillion in 2005 33 .

Many theories have linked pay with employee satisfaction and

productivity. Edward Lawler developed the equity theory 34 (model) to

explain the affect of payscales. The distinction between the amount

employees receive and the amount they think others are receiving is

the primary strata on which pay satisfaction or dissatisfaction occurs.

Herzbergs Motivation-Hygiene theory, on the contrary, suggested that

pay only keeps employees from being dissatisfied rather than wholly

satisfying them. The relation between pay and productivity has

previously been mentioned by the Fredrick W. Taylor. He suggested


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linking pay directly with measurable productivity. Workers who were

able to achieve the targets were paid 125% of base pay, whereas those

failing to do so were paid low wages. Today, Fredrick Taylors incentive

based pay model is the most widely used method all over the world.Compensation management is an intricate subject. Any organization has

to study the competition around it to determine the pay scale of its

employees. Accordingly, there are 3 types of pay strategies

organizations follow when taking the pay level decision 35 .

1. High Pay Strategy: In this strategy, managers pay at higher-than-

average levels. The underlying assumption is that you get what youpay for. Another assumption is that higher pay scales would help

retain employees and attract the best talent in the market. Google,

Apple, Microsoft, Infosys are some of the companies that are seen to

practice this strategy. These companies generally act as trendsetters

in the field for other firms to follow.

2. Low Pay Strategy: The direct antithesis of the high pay strategy is the

low pay strategy. In this case managers pay at the minimum level

just enough to hire employees. Insurance and other brokerage firms

largely use this method. This method is used in cases wherein, the

company lacks the ability to pay or the company has an extremely

large pool of talent at its disposal at all times.

3. Comparable pay Strategy: It is the most commonly used paystrategy. The wage criteria are comparable wages, perhaps modified

by the cost of living or purchasing power adjustments. To reach upon

the standards being followed in the industry firms take the help of

pay surveys. Pay surveys are the techniques and instruments used to

collect data about compensation paid to the employees by all


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employers in a geographic area, industry or occupational group. 36 Pay

surveys are conducted by professional or consulting enterprises,

trade associations, government, unions, competitors, etc.

Management Compensation, therefore, plays a very significant part

along with the working style and environment in the organizations

success strategy. While individual organizations may have differences in

their methodologies based on factors best suited to their perceived

needs, some general directions are evident. Some of these directions

and trends followed in India are discussed below:

1. Salary, Basic Salary or Consolidated Salary continues to remain as the

major component of compensation, though Salary Scales are often

discarded these days, or used only as guides. Individual Salary is

generally decided initially using the Scale, but thereafter performance,

contribution to targets or results generated determine the revisionsperiodically, which may vary widely from individual to individual.

2. Reimbursements of expenses incurred on Company work has become

limited, and in line to conform to the tax laws. However, in most cases,

they are not considered as a part of the compensation, unless it is

provided towards personal benefits.

3. Annual payments: Bonus or Commission, and Leave travel are

common features and some tax relief benefits apply for the latter.


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4. Benefits generally comprise of mostly unfurnished company owned or

leased accommodation, use of company or leased vehicles, medical

coverage, retrial benefits covering Provident Fund, Pension or

Superannuation and Gratuity, post-retrial medical assistance, easy loanschemes at low or zero interest rates for house building, cars or

vehicles, furniture or utility items, club entrance free reimbursement

etc. Minor benefits could be provision of security, driver or gardening

assistance, else of products or assets at a concessional rate, relocation

and transfer expenses including admission etc. fees for children, credit

card fees, phones etc.

5. Employee stock option schemes which has been popular in IT

industry-,is not extensively used yet, not being tax advantageous to

other industries, nor seen as being very attractive, with lesser growth

trends for their share values especially in the well-established older

companies.

6. Most companies, as against earlier visible costs, use the Total cost to

the Company concept as basis. Cost of the most benefits are averaged

or computed on actual basis, and within the system of the overall cost,

but with greater compliance to tax laws this basket concept is on the

wane.

7. Retirement benefits: Some in recognition of the past contribution of

pensioners, and to partly offset the inflation post retirement practices

periodic improvement in pensions, or a guaranteed grade minimum

pension.


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8. Performance Bonus are being given more as a recognition of results

generated. It requires transparent, balanced and fair systems and

benchmarks, and also agree to targets set by the managers in advance,

during planning and review discussions.

9. From the earlier grade oriented compensation system within

reasonable boundaries, compensation often has to be somewhat tailor

made for specialist or key contributors to retain them in the volatile job

market.

10. Compensation review periods have become annual generally, and

sometimes more often, as compared to every three to five years earlier.

11. Retention strategies employed are generally the attractive interest

free or at low rates for loans, on which market rate of interest may

apply; on early exit, renting employee owned property to set off

repayment of loans, qualifying periods or attractive service benefits

added to the retirement benefits, etc.

4. Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management: Organization

Learning and Knowledge Management 37 are some of the new

emerging concepts in the field of HR. The belief underlying these

fields is that just like human beings cannot draw upon the full


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utilization of their brains, organizations cannot fully utilize the

knowledge present with them.

Knowledge Management: KM involves a set of complementary

practices that aim at developing this capability in organizations. Today, Knowledge is the only competitive leverage a company has

against it rivals. A paradigm shift has changed the way that

knowledge is viewed. Previously, employees use to stay at a

company for their full career lives. Now, employees are switching

jobs several times. When they leave, they take their knowledge with

them. Therefore, knowledge hoarding among individuals can hurt the

company; while knowledge sharing and collaboration can benefit the

company by allowing the knowledge to stay within the company.Organizations must be able to capture the knowledge and experience

of their employees to be able to change their tacit knowledge into

organizational knowledge, so it can be used even after the employee

is no longer with them. Knowledge management deals with the

planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling of people, processes

and systems in the organization to ensure that its results and

productivity are improved and resources effectively employed.

Knowledge assets include knowledge in the form of printeddocuments such as patents and manuals, knowledge stored in

electronic repositories such as a best-practices, employee and

customer databases, employees knowledge about the best way to

do their jobs, knowledge that is held by teams who have been

working on focused problems and knowledge that is embedded in the

organizations products, processes and relationships. Many

organizations tend to misinterpret knowledge management as only

the effective use of information technology in the form of ERP andother Decision support systems. On the contrary, the art of effective

Knowledge Management is to transmit the knowledge that exists in

the mind of an individual to social groups, teams and networks

existing in the organization. Thus, Knowledge Management is more

people intensive and not technology intensive as perceived.


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One of the most important pre-requisites of knowledge management is

effective organizational communication. Organizational communication

affects the execution of any organizations strategy. Organizations rely

heavily on a strategy of employing effective communication38

in order tointegrate, coordinate, and control the information flow to all of an

organizations stakeholders, employees, suppliers, investors, and

customers. For example, in order to turn around GE, Jack Welch

announced a series of measures to clarify organizational strategies.

First, Mr. Welch revamped GEs organizational culture in order to make

employees more self-reliant, rapid in response, and change-oriented.

Second, he developed a world-class education and reeducation system

headed by GEs management training center at Croutenville, New York.Third, he restructured GEs monitoring and reward system to make it

more performance, team, and change-oriented. Excellence in

communicating an organizations strategy results, according to Jack

Welch, from a persistent effort over time to clearly articulate a firms

goals and strategies and a leaders passion in monitoring and evaluating

the effectiveness of a firms implementing structures. To increase

Organizational communication help should be sought from OD

(Organization Development) practitioners. An organization developmenteffort is related to a total organization change in the culture and the

reward system or the total managerial strategy. An Action Research

may be carried out to find where the ignorance lies in an organization.

One should note that any change can be initiated only when the top

level management supports and backs it 39 . Without the determination of

the top management, any planned change is doomed to failure. There

are some organization sub-strategies 40 required for effective Knowledge

Management, as follows:

1. Systems - creating and refining knowledge repositories and on

motivating people to provide content.

2. Process - developing and using repeatable processes that are

supported with knowledge from previously conducted processes.


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3. Commercial -the management of intellectual property such as

patents, trademarks, etc.

4. Strategic - the development of knowledge capabilities that can

form the foundation of competitive strategy.5. Cartographic - creating knowledge maps or directories and

networks to connect people.

6. Organizational - providing groupware and intranets to facilitate

communities of practice.

7. Social - socialization as a means of knowledge creation and

exchange; emphasizes the

provision of physical places to facilitate discussions and

communication.

Organizational Learning: The concept of Organizational learning (or

Learning Organizations) came around first in the book The Fifth

Discipline by Peter Senge. He described them as places where people

continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire,

where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where

collective aspiration is set free and where people are continually

learning how to learn together.41

Many experts view Knowledge Management and Organizational learning as

similar concepts. Indeed, the concepts are deeply inter-related. KM can be

seen as an organizations ability to share and retain the knowledge

resources of the firm for sustained competitive advantage. Meanwhile, OL

can be considered as the process of improving business practices through

better knowledge and understanding. More specifically, OL emphasizes

how the learning process can create new knowledge for developing

business practices in a changing environment. It can be said that aLearning Organization is the ultimate result of all Knowledge management

and organization learning Initiatives. The broad perspective to study and

implement Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning is the

Socio Technical perspective. 42 The socio -technical view of KM focuses on

a firms strategy for harmonizing KM activities with technological drivers


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Fig 1-5: Relationship between Knowledge Management andOrganizational Learning 43 .

As India moves into the phase of its demographic dividend the efficient use of

its manpower becomes more a necessity than luxury. Human resource

management is a versatile contraption that can be used to achieve the

strategic objectives of the company. For an outsourcing haven like India, its

necessary that firms start using recruitment and training as a strategic

leverage to achieve competitive advantage. Here are some success strategiesnecessary for gaining the HR advantage: 44

1. Adopt a Strategic Approach to Staffing : Hiring smart today means hiring

strategically taking the time and effort to make sure that each

staffing decision matches the goals and operational needs of the

company. The traditional approach to hiring finding the one person


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who best fits the specs of a particular job is losing ground in

contemporary companies to a much more fluid and flexible model in

which the goal is to determine what the job really requires and what

combination of resources best meets that requirement.

2. Be Aggressive and Resourceful in Recruiting: No single recruiting

strategy works for all situations. In a tight labor market, one may need

to devote more resources to the recruiting efforts and become

increasingly innovative in the practices.

3. Seek to Create a Healthy Culture: Healthy, dynamic company cultures

seen at firms that rate high with employees, such as Starbucks, Google,and Apple dont evolve overnight. Nor can they be created with a

single speech or the introduction of one or two policies. Clearly,

however, such cultures, whether youre a Fortune 500 company or a

small business, take their cue from senior management.

4. Get the Most Out of Contingent Staffing: Outsourcing of staffing has

been one of the biggest activities in contemporary HRM. Its important

that there is a clearc ut distinction between contingent and full timeworkers of the firm.

5. Take a Proactive Approach to Regulatory Compliance: As employees get

more and more aware it is imperative that companies behave ethically.

Firms need to be aware of the changing employment laws and

communicate the same to the employees, else they may be held for

violations and exploitations.

6. Make Work/Family Balance a Priority: Creating family-friendly policies is

more than a simple act of company altruism. A smart policy toward

work and family has become a bottom-line-driven best practice

among some of todays most successful and respected companies.


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Correlation Matrix a

Component

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Correlation 1. 1.000 .507 .285 .043 .533 .424 .467 .498 .109 .298 .406 .530 .720 .335 .381 .533 .319 -.099 .137 .197

2. .507 1.000 -.041 .054 .561 .258 .175 .560 .255 .234 .177 .130 .241 .045 .013 .322 .101 .023 .220 .223

3. .285 -.041 1.000 .335 .189 .236 .306 .173 .339 .330 .332 .385 .368 .328 .683 .303 .471 -.100 .270 -.180

4. .043 .054 .335 1.000 .344 .155 .214 .028 .302 .229 .388 .400 .094 .501 .381 -.089 .099 .018 .136 .053

5. .533 .561 .189 .344 1.000 .398 .316 .505 .000 .119 .356 .410 .434 .350 .383 .034 .183 -.019 .253 -.027

6. .424 .258 .236 .155 .398 1.000 .466 .134 .228 .291 .178 .535 .542 .105 .125 .454 -.074 -.191 .124 .147

7. .467 .175 .306 .214 .316 .466 1.000 .241 .250 .099 .580 .247 .437 .443 .196 .299 .146 -.129 -.052 .047

8. .498 .560 .173 .028 .505 .134 .241 1.000 .103 .072 .142 .281 .470 .124 .321 .306 .319 .197 .025 .180

9. .109 .255 .339 .302 .000 .228 .250 .103 1.000 .423 .346 .298 -.023 .154 .325 .382 .327 .149 -.081 .205

10. .298 .234 .330 .229 .119 .291 .099 .072 .423 1.000 .458 .476 .249 .059 .438 .536 .122 .031 .201 .057

11. .406 .177 .332 .388 .356 .178 .580 .142 .346 .458 1.000 .381 .208 .455 .487 .240 .446 -.105 .308 .142

12. .530 .130 .385 .400 .410 .535 .247 .281 .298 .476 .381 1.000 .608 .415 .512 .375 .217 -.086 .136 .102

13. .720 .241 .368 .094 .434 .542 .437 .470 -.023 .249 .208 .608 1.000 .296 .370 .465 .054 -.017 .030 -.068

14. .335 .045 .328 .501 .350 .105 .443 .124 .154 .059 .455 .415 .296 1.000 .291 -.063 .130 -.268 -.068 -.006

15. .381 .013 .683 .381 .383 .125 .196 .321 .325 .438 .487 .512 .370 .291 1.000 .183 .602 .226 .216 .068

16. .533 .322 .303 -.089 .034 .454 .299 .306 .382 .536 .240 .375 .465 -.063 .183 1.000 .138 -.038 .025 .094

17. .319 .101 .471 .099 .183 -.074 .146 .319 .327 .122 .446 .217 .054 .130 .602 .138 1.000 .180 .248 .190

18. -.099 .023 -.100 .018 -.019 -.191 -.129 .197 .149 .031 -.105 -.086 -.017 -.268 .226 -.038 .180 1.000 -.128 .094

19. .137 .220 .270 .136 .253 .124 -.052 .025 -.081 .201 .308 .136 .030 -.068 .216 .025 .248 -.128 1.000 .115

20. .197 .223 -.180 .053 -.027 .147 .047 .180 .205 .057 .142 .102 -.068 -.006 .068 .094 .190 .094 .115 1.000

a. Determinant = 1.31E-006


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Step 2-: Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Test (KMO- Barletts test)

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .621

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 331.796

Df 190Sig. .000

After explaining the adequate use of statistical the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin

Measure of Sampling Adequacy (KMO) value needs to be checked out. To be

acceptable, it should be .6 or above. The Barletts Test of Sphericity value

should be significant (i.e. the Sig. value should be .05 or smaller). In this

example the KMO value is .621, and the Bartletts test is significant (p=.000),

therefore factor analysis is appropriate. With this analysis we have proved

that the sampling technique and respondent selection were adequate.

Step 3-: Kaisers criterion or the eigen value rule.


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components meet this criterion the Total Variance Explained table needs to be

looked into. Scan down the values provided in the first set of columns, labeled

Initial Eigenvalues. The eigenvalues for each component are listed. In this

example only the first seven components recorded eigenvalues above 1(5.973, 2.179, 1.873, 1.656, 1.369, 1.300, and 1.108). These seven

components explain a total of 77.291 per cent of the variance.

Step 4: Scree plot

As discussed earlier,

using the Kaiser

criterion, found toomany components are

found fit for

extraction. Therefore,

it is also important to

look at the screeplot

provided by SPSS.

Here, one needs to

observe the change inthe shape of the plot.

Only components

above the particular

point are retained. In

this example there is

quite a clear break

between the second and third components. Components first, second and

third explain or capture much more of the variance than the remainingcomponents. From this plot, four components are used as they are explain

more than 50% of variability. There is also another little break after the fourth

component. Depending on the research context, this might also be worth

exploring. It needs to be clarified once again that factor analysis is used only


46/58


as a data exploration technique and its interpretation and use depends on the

analyzer than on any hard statistical rules.

Step 5: (Varimax rotation)


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Rotated Component Matrix a

Component1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Is performance appraisal conducted atregular intervals of time? .709 .351 .237 -.06 1 .345 .053

2. Does the appraisal policy have anyprofound effect on you as an employee?

.668 .166 -.125 .003 -.023

.484

3. Do you think that the organization has aneffective HR Information system?

.031 .347 .694 .184 .173 -.301

4. Does the organization conduct a jobanalysis on a regular basis?

-.005

.114 .139 .882 .035 .075 .

5. Does the organization try to develop andadopt new age HR initiatives?

.754 .015 .052 .433 .094 -.016

6. Is the delegation of work jointly carried outand supervised by you and your senior? .327 .654 -.202 .132 .296 -.01 27. Does the company give you theopportunity to do something challenging andworthwhile?

.291 .184 .195 .136 .693 .125 .

8. Are any special training sessions like skilldevelopment, etc. carried out for employees atregular intervals?

.809 .022 .248 -.051

-.109

.148

9. Are there any flexi-time systems orother benefits being offered by the company?

-.140

.481 .332 .240 -.020

.521

10. Are the work relations between employeescordial?

-.035

.766 .226 .170 -.096

.151

11. Do you think the company has adequatehygiene and mess facilities?

.094 .196 .495 .325 .475 .312 .

12. Is any type of training imparted to the toplevel management functionaries?

.331 .594 .194 .429 .105 -.132

13. Is there a well defined recruitmentprocedure in the company policy?

.657 .462 .112 .040 .209 -.372

14. Does the organization conduct a humanresource planning and forecasting?

.175 -.067 .195 .612 .547 -.066

15. Does the company focus on careerplanning of its employees?

.220 .253 .777 .340 -.116

-.100

16. Hierarchical relationships are deemednecessary for running the organization?

.223 .778 .158 -.336

.134 .132

17. Is there one specific person that you report .158 -.071 .859 -.05 .013 .229 .


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Varimax rotation is used in the table labeled total variance explained. It can

be noticed that there are now only seven components listed in the right-hand

section. But as discussed above, only the first four components need to beconsidered as they are explain around 58.407% of the variation.

In the Rotated Component Matrix the loadings of each of the variables on

these factors can be seen that were re-selected. After looking to the highest

loading Variable of each of the component, these can be used to help identify

the nature of the underlying latent variable represented by each component.

In this study, the identified factors dealing deal with three major areas of

concern. These are: 1.Performance Appraisal, 2.Organizational learning and

Knowledge management and 3.Human Resource Planning. The items relatedto component first (Performance Appraisal) are 1, 2, 5, 8, and 13.

Similarly, the items related to component second (OrganizationalLearning) are 10,6,16,12. For component third (Knowledge Management)the items are 3, 15 and 17 and for Component fourth ( Human ResourcePlanning) the items are 4 and 14.

Performance Appraisal is one of the most important aspects of HR. It is a

direct representation of employee satisfaction and the means towards

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Jointdelegation of

work

interpersonalrelationship

Traning formanagerial

skill

mechanisticorganization

PerformanceAppraisal

Agree Slightly Agree Series5

Neutral Slightly Disagree Disagree

Storngly Disagree


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employee growth. In our survey, we concentrated on three aspects of

appraisal: The frequency and timeframe of the appraisal, its effect on the job

and the reliability of HR information system. In the survey, 51% of the

respondents agreed that the appraisal was carried out in a regular fashion.

Though there was agreement on the frequency of appraisals, most of the

respondents (33%) refrained to comment upon the effect of appraisals on

their growth/jobs. Thus, the company needs to undertake some employee

awareness and trust building measures. There is a need to bring in

transparency in the information assimilation and dissemination. An effective

appraisal can aid the productivity only when the employees believe in its

fairness. Only then, would they accept the feedback of such appraisal. The

organization is extremely efficient with recruiting. 60% of respondents agreed

that there are well defined outlines for recruiting. On the account of OL, a lot of

work needs to be done. Joint delegation of work is rarely carried out. 60% disagreed

with this fact. Also, the company needs to work on the culture. Most people remained

0

10

20

30

40

Joint delegationof work

interpersonalrelationship

Traning formanagerial skill

mechanisticorganization

OL

Strongly Agree Agree Slightly Agree NeutralSlightly Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree


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neutral on the fact of work relationships (48%) Also, the firm needs to impart some

skill development training at least for the high level management. Almost, 47%

people felt the need for such training.

Discriminant Classification Results

21.

Tenure

Predicted Group Membership

Total1.00 2.00 3.00

Original Count 1.00 10 0 0 10

2.00 1 14 0 15

3.00 0 1 7 8

% 1.00 100.0 .0 .0 100.02.00 6.7 93.3 .0 100.0

3.00 .0 12.5 87.5 100.0

a. 93.9% of original grouped cases correctly classified.

Conclusion, Recommendation and Future scope

From the analysis it can be concluded that the primary areas of concern for

the company are Performance Appraisal, Human Resource Planning and

Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management. Performance appraisal

is an effective method of measurement. But it starts losing its sheen if the

employees start losing faith in it. Employees should be made aware of how

the appraisal system affects their career and the gravitas it has on them.

Another important matter that should be resolved is the general perception of

Appraisal. The satanic evilness attributed to it should be dispensed away

through effective education. Employees should be informed that appraisal is

not a negative or punitive activity, but one that is aimed at increasing

organizational productivity. Appraisal is an important tool in diagnosing

employee weakness before the situation becomes grievous and its effective

resolution beforehand through training and other activities. After all,

prevention is always said to be better than cure.


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The second area of importance is HRP. HRP can decide the present and future

of a firm. It has a direct impact on the companys financials and cost

effectiveness. Firing in the dark can never yield accurate targets. Today,

newer and better methods of forecasting and HRP planning are being used.Statistical tools and expert analysis can be utilized for reaching upon accurate

manpower requirements. HRP is in direct conjunction with the training,

development and other expenses that a firm will incur in the future. Also, the

paying strategy should be rethought upon.

The last area of concern is Organizational Learning and Knowledge

Management. An effective learning organization is the culmination of all

Human Resource practices being followed in a firm. If we look at SMC as an

organization desirous of maturing to the level of a learning organization in

tandem with Herzbergs motivation theory, we would like to point out that

though it is satisfying the hygiene needs of the employees, the motivating

factors are somewhere missing. This affects employee mindset resulting into

information being withheld by some. At some levels there is a problem of job

replication and on others some members become extremely indispensible to

the company. It is important to develop and instate a new culture of trust and

confidence among employees so that the organization can build upon the

knowledge of its employees and thereby create a tremendous and everlasting

value for its stakeholders.

The scope of this study has been an extensive one. There are a lot of micro

level issues, independent studies on which may be carried out. In order to

have a better and leaner structure, it is necessary to do an Organizational

Development study to give headway into the restructuring needed to be

carried out. Many designations need to be eliminated and Job descriptions re-

written. To solve the problem of high attrition rates in the sales and marketingdepartments, an independent research may be carried out encompassing the

telemarketing executives. This would give valuable insight into their

expectations and motivation levels, etc and help SMC graduate from a good

to great organization.


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of Knowledge Management, pp. 6875.

43. King, William R. (2009), Knowledge Management and

Organizational Learning, New York: Springer Publications, pp 273.

44. Messmer, Max (2007), Human Resources Kit for Dummies, 2 nd ed.,

Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing, pp. 313-318.


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Appendix

Questionnaire

Name:

Sex:

Designation:

Years of experience at SMC:

Total Experience:

Note: We are thankful to you for helping us with our research. You need to tick the boxesaccording to the 7 point scale shown below starting from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7

(Strongly Agree)


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Strongly

disagree

Disagree Slightly

Disagree

Neutral Slightly

Agree

Agree Stron

Agr

1 2 3 4 5 6 7


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Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Do you agree that the performance appraisal is conducted at regular intervals of time?

2. Do you think that the appraisal policy has any profound effect on you asan employee?

3. Do you think that the organization has an effective HR Informationsystem?

4. Do you agree that the organization conduct a job analysis on a regular basis?

5. Does the organization try to develop and adopt new age HR initiatives?

6. Is the delegation of work jointly carried out and supervised by you andyour senior?

7. Does the company give you the opportunity to do something challengingand worthwhile?

8. Are any special training sessions like skill development, etc. carried outfor employees at regular intervals?

9. Are there any flexi-time systems or other benefits being offered by thecompany?

10. Are the work relations between employees cordial?

11. Do you think the company has adequate hygiene and mess facilities?

12. Is any type of training imparted to the top level managementfunctionaries?

13. Is there a well defined recruitment procedure in the company policy?

14. Does the organization conduct a human resource planning andforecasting?

15. Does the company focus on career planning of its employees?

16. Hierarchical relationships are deemed necessary for running theorganization?

17. . Is there one specific person that you report to in your line of work (Unityof command)?

18. Does the salary match up to what the competitors are offering?

19. . Is there a performance based pay system in the company?